Cody McGrath 
Digital asset services in the United States are expected in the future, according to a statement from Huobi.
The United States Financial Crimes Enforcement Network has granted a Money Services Business (MSB) license to HBIT Inc, a subsidiary of the Huobi bitcoin exchange (FinCEN).
Huobi, based in Seychelles, stated on July 5 that the license lays the groundwork for it to conduct crypto-related business in the United States in the future as part of its strategic goals of “globalization and compliance.” According to CoinGecko, the exchange is a prominent player, with more than $1 billion in volume in the last 24 hours.
Before the massive crypto crackdown by Chinese authorities, the majority of Huobi users were Chinese, but according to the most recent Statista data, the majority of users in February 2022 were from Russia and Ukraine.
The MSB license permits Huobi’s subsidiary to send money and act as a fiat currency exchange, which is necessary by US regulators to ensure FinCEN can monitor financial crimes such as money laundering.
It does not, however, permit it to operate crypto-exchange services, which would necessitate a money transmitter license. It plans to provide a compliant digital asset solution to US users in the future.
According to Huobi, its Hong Kong companies have also secured asset management and securities advising licenses from the country’s Securities and Futures Commission.
In addition, the companies are looking for a license to provide automated trading services and securities trading to become a fully compliant crypto exchange in Hong Kong.
Huobi has been on a licensing winning streak.
The exchange received licenses in New Zealand and the United Arab Emirates on June 21. The latter was an Innovation License, which, while not a trading license, grants it access to the local IT industry as well as preferential tax status.
At the time, Huobi Group chief financial officer Lily Zhang said that the company intends to obtain a license from Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) to offer its full suite of crypto exchange services.
However, the exchange’s Thai license was canceled on June 16 because it allegedly failed to comply with local requirements. There have also been reports of massive personnel layoffs and that the company’s founder may be looking to quit the business.
On June 28, Hong Kong-based crypto writer Colin Wu claimed that Huobi planned to lay off 30% of its workforce, with a later update on July 2 revealing speculations that Huboi founder Li Lin is looking to sell his 50% ownership.
The exchange reportedly lost roughly 30% of its earnings due to the loss of Chinese-based users as a result of the country’s crypto trading prohibitions.
Huobi has yet to comment officially on the speculation.